Frank starts up the engine and heads for home. On the way he passes another small boat. The two men in it are jigging cod. They don't recognize Frank's boat. It's an old one he borrowed from a neighbour. The men don't wait to find out who is coming their way. They pull in their lines and take off in the other direction. Frank says it's always like that now. Men are afraid to stop and talk to each other on the water. If they are breaking the law, they have good reason to be afraid. Fishery officers watched Too Good Arm all summer. Frank says they hid
up in the fields over the bay. Frank's trial was held during a snowstorm. Frank didn't make it to
court. But he was given a fine of $3,500 or 90 days in jail. Frank said
it wasn't fair for him to be given such a huge fine when he didn't have
the chance to defend himself. The judge agreed with Frank. The fisherman
was given the right to appeal his case. Frank's conviction has caused other problems. The McCarthy's marriage was already strained by unemployment. It ended after Frank was convicted. Ruby left in 1995. She wanted Frank to stop jigging. "I don't agree with what they did to Frank, but I want things to go back to the way they were," Ruby said when Frank was first arrested. Frank just couldn't stop. "They should never have let them close the food fishery," he says. "As long as I have an old wooden boat that will float, I'm going to have fish to eat and that's it." Frank brings his small boat ashore. A neighbour meets him at the wharf.
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